There are several known methods for producing the heterocyclic compounds of this invention. The five membered heterocyclic compound, pyrrolidone, can be produced by the hydrogenation of methyl beta-cyanopropionate (U.S. Pat. No. 2,843,600). This patent discloses that at temperatures above 150.degree. pyrrolidone is obtained by slowly contacting an alkyl beta-cyanopropionate with a Raney nickel catalyst. Seven membered nitrogen-containing rings, e.g. caprolactam, are normally prepared from phenol via cyclohexanone oxime. The cyclohexanone oxime is converted to caprolactam by the Beckman rearrangement (see Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Kirk-Othmer, Vol. 16 (Second Edition 1968)).
The above methods are each disadvantageous for some reason. First, the catalysts used therein are prone to deactivation. Second, the processes must be conducted in the presence of a large amount of NH.sub.3 and at very high catalyst concentrations. The instant process, on the other hand, can be conducted continuously at low catalyst to hydrocarbon ratios in the absence of ammonia. Furthermore, the inventive catalysts have long active lifes and result in high yields and selectivities of the desired product.